See how your district’s funding would change under SB 13-213

This database shows current per-pupil funding for Colorado school districts compared to what they would receive under Senate Bill 13-213. It also shows what districts received in 2009-10, the highest year for K-12 funding before the recession forced budget cuts.

Current statewide per-pupil funding is $6,652 and is projected to rise to $7,426 under SB-213, an 11.6 percent increase. That amount would be 2.5 percent higher than the state average of $7,242 in 2009-10.

This database was updated Oct. 2 to correct formatting problems with the display of percentages.)

Notes about the data

The per-student figures reflect the amounts districts are projected to receive under the formula established by Senate Bill 13-213, including basic state support, local revenue, additional funding for preschool, full-day kindergarten, at-risk students and English language learners. Percentages of at-risk students and English language learners are included because districts above the state averages would receive extra funding for those students.

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The figures also include additional SB 13-213 funding of $411 per student for implementation of reform laws and extra funding that was given to certain districts.

Because they are based on current data such as enrollment, actual amounts are expected to be different in 2015-16, when the new formula will go into effect if Amendment 66 passes.

The figures do not include additional revenues that some districts receive from local tax-limit overrides and from the federal government. The figures also don’t include additional SB 13-213 funding that districts might receive, such as additional special education money. Those are dependent on the actual amounts of revenue generated by Amendment 66 in the future.

SB 13-213 also creates a new formula for calculation of what local district shares should be. Several districts are below those levels and would be able to increase their budgets if voters later approve local tax increases. This database does not include what per-pupil spending would be if those districts increased their local revenues.

Information for this database was obtained from the Colorado Department of Education and from legislative staff. Some percentage calculations were made by EdNews.

State’s college attendance rate shows slight turnaround

The percentage of Colorado high school students enrolling in college right after graduation increased slightly in 2014, according to a new report from the Department of Higher Education.

Of 2014’s 53,771 graduates, 55.8 percent went on to college immediately, up from the 2013 rate but three percentage points below the record in 2009, according to the Report on the Postsecondary Progress and Success of High School Graduates (full copy at bottom of this article).

In the recession year of 2009, when the state started compiling the report, 58.8 percent of high school grads went to college.

“The most recent, 2014, is the first cohort whose enrollment rate increased from the previous year,” the report noted. “Previously, all graduating classes included in this report had a lower enrollment rate than their previous year.”

The report “is good news because so many of the jobs in our technology and information based economy require post-secondary credentials,” said Lt. Gov. Joe Garcia, who’s also executive director of the department. “However, the report also reveals that we have continuing and significant gaps in post-secondary outcomes and that students from certain demographic groups are doing much better than others. If we are to meet our education and workforce goals, we must do a better job of supporting low income, rural, and minority students so that they graduate with a credential that will lead to a living wage job.”

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Overall college enrollment tends to rise when the economy is weak and drop when times improve. Fall enrollment in 2014 was 251,778, down from the recent high of 284,405 in 2011.

The report details continuing disparities between demographic groups in college attendance and success. Postsecondary enrollment for Latino students is nearly 20 percentage points below white students, and, after their first year of college, African-American students on average earn nearly 10 fewer credits than white students, it said.

The report also breaks out college-going rates for individual districts. The district with the highest college attendance rate was Limon, with 84.4 percent of its 32 2014 graduates going on to higher education.

Larger districts in the top 10 included Cheyenne Mountain, Douglas County, Lewis-Palmer and Littleton.

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Chalkbeat Colorado

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The Plateau Valley district in eastern Mesa County had the lowest rate, 16 percent. Metro-area districts in the bottom 10 included Adams 14, Englewood, Sheridan and Westminster.

Some 76 percent of 2014 grads attended Colorado colleges, and 74 percent of those students attended four-year schools. The most popular schools were Colorado State University and the University of Colorado Boulder. Front Range Community College attracted the largest number of students enrolling in two-year schools.

The annual study examines not only college-going rates but also grade point averages, credits earned, persistence and graduation rates going back to the class of 2009.

Members of the high school class of 2014 who attended Colorado colleges had an average grade point average of 2.78 during their freshman year. Those students completed an average of 30 credits by the end of 2014-15.